


Marks

by ricksanchez



Category: South Park
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 17:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17166086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ricksanchez/pseuds/ricksanchez
Summary: It was evident to pretty much everyone in town who their soulmates were, as shown by the matching tattoos they shared with them. Since it was a small town, nearly everyone found their soulmate at a young age. However, a few others were left alone with their tattoo, unable to find the person that held the matching one.





	Marks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kylebblog](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=kylebblog).



> for kylebblog on tumblr. i hope u like it!
> 
> sorry this is late! work is crazy and my boyfriend is visiting for the holidays rn so im a bit busy. but here it is! it's a bit rushed and not that good. i apologize. i can probably draw you some art and write a better fic to make it up to u! <3

It was the night after their high school graduation that Cartman decided to invite his friends over. His mom was out, as usual, so he had no problems setting up a get-together. 

“Hey fatass, we got the snacks,” Kyle said as soon as Cartman answered the door, and immediately pushed his way inside. Kenny, Stan, and Butters followed along. 

“Thank god, I’m fucking starving,” Cartman grunted, letting them all in before sitting back on the couch.

“Did you get the booze from your mom’s stash?” Kenny asked, seeming to be very eager already. 

“Dude, of course, I did! I raided all her shit.” Cartman smiled smugly, sitting up before ushering his friends up to his room. 

Upon entering his room, everyone could see the various kinds of booze sitting on Cartman’s desk. Cartman beamed with pride as the other boys took in the scene. 

“Sweet, dude!” Stan cheered, and the others soon joined him in unison. 

They all grabbed a bottle of Smirnoff and raised their drinks in the air, clinking them together. “Cheers to high school finally being fucking over!” Cartman boasted, to which his friends all hummed in agreement before taking sips of their drinks. 

***

After a drink or two, the boys were quite tipsy. Not drunk, but tipsy. Each of them stumbled a but through their words, and found themselves giggling more than usual.

Kyle had started playing Minecraft one Cartman’s Xbox One, in which Stan, Butters, and Kenny intently watched Kyle play, with Kenny trying to guide Kyle through the game. Cartman didn’t even try to look interested in the game, instead just staring at Kyle with a dopey expression. 

“Kyle, you gotta kill that creeper, bro,” Kenny suggested, practically giving Kyle hints at every turn. 

“I know what I’m doing, Ken. You’re acting as if I’ve never played this game before.” Kyle rolled his eyes. 

After a while, the boys were growing bored of watching Kyle play. They started talking about their soulmates instead. Cartman didn’t want to hear about that crap again, so he quickly excused himself from his own room and stumbled his way into the bathroom. 

“Ugh, why does that asshole always get upset whenever we talk about soulmates?” Stan asked, rolling his eyes. He grabbed another bottle and took a large sip.

“Obviously because he can’t stand the fact that he doesn’t have one,” Kenny said with a laugh.

“Yea. I mean, Kyle might have not found his soulmate yet, but Eric doesn’t even have one!” Butters exclaimed.

The boys joined together in laughter. They almost felt sorry for him.

In reality, Cartman knew who his soulmate was since preschool, but he never mentioned it, being too in denial to ever admit it. It was Kyle, of course, and he loathed that fact. He hated Kyle, so why the hell would be his soulmate? It made absolutely no sense to him. He hated whatever sick joke the universe was playing on him, so much so he vowed to hide his tattoo forever. His tattoo was small to begin with, hiding under the hair on the back of his neck, but he didn’t wanna risk it. In a fit of rage, he burned the tattoo off his skin, leaving a disastrous mark instead. He used various forms of makeup to hide the scar, and everyone was none the wiser. 

No one saw his tattoo before, so everyone always teased Cartman for his lack of one. They all said it was what he deserved. Cartman always shrugged it off, telling everyone he hated love and all that bullcrap, anyway. Of course, a few questioned why or how he lacked one in the first place, or why Kyle had yet to find the one who matched with him after all this time. It left Kyle feeling empty. Kyle had searched for his soulmate for years, yet his efforts were fruitless. After some years, he had given up. 

As for Cartman, he had realized around in 4th grade just how much he fucked up. He finally had come to terms with his obvious crush on Kyle after years of denial, but now he had nothing to show for it. God, he really fucked up. He continued hiding his feelings for Kyle under a dangerous facade, and instead keeping his true feelings locked away in his private diary. He knew he couldn’t let anyone know of his crush or the tattoo that was burned off his skin. 

Kyle sighed, feeling his loneliness spark back up again. He really wished he would find his soulmate already. Stan patted him on the back in response. 

“Hey dude, it’s alright. You’ll find them soon enough.” 

Kyle smiled. “Thanks, Stan.”

Meanwhile, Kenny was searching under Cartman’s bed trying to find some dirty porn mags. Needless to say, he found something entirely different. 

“Uhh, guys…” Stan and Kyle turned their heads to face Kenny, who was holding Cartman’s diary. 

“Dude… no way... “ Kyle snickered.

“Aw jeez. I don’t think we should look through that, fellas. Eric would be mighty sore with us” Butters frowned. He was curious, sure, but not enough to invade his friend’s privacy and get his ass beat. He already knew was mostly in there, anyway. 

“Who cares? He’s a huge asshole. I don’t think it matters if we peek just a bit. Maybe we can get some revenge out of it.” Kyle suggested, shrugging off Butters’ thoughts. 

Truth be told, Cartman hadn’t been too bad since he started therapy. He was way less bigoted and no longer terribly manipulative. He was bearable at the very least. That didn’t stop Kyle from wanting to fuck with the fat douche, though. 

“Already on it!” Kenny opened the diary, and soon all the other boys crowded around him to see what was inside. Evidently, it was not what they expected. Drawings of Kyle were on the sides of each page, with cute little entries talking about his fascination with the redhead. 

Kyle, upon reading the diary, instantly blushed a deep red. Holy hell. He backed away from the others. Shit. His face was flushed, and his heart was pounding out of his chest. He wanted to leave.

The other boys didn’t seem surprised but refused to say anything in response to what was written in the diary. Instead, they just giggled as if it was nothing. Once Kyle had backed away, the boys laid their eyes on him in confusion. 

“Kyle? Are you okay?” Stan seemed confused.

“No! Of course, I’m fucking not! I just found out Cartman has a fucking crush on me!”

The boys looked at each other. They couldn’t believe it. Did Kyle really not know before?

“Of course he does!” Butters chirped. “He’s liked you since middle school! In fact, you guys are actually soulmates!” Butters smiled, completely forgetting that he was supposed to never speak of that. His eyes went wide, and he covered his mouth. “Aw, hamburgers…” Butters said, his words muffled by his hands. 

Now _that_ was shocking. The crush wasn’t new, sure, but them being soulmates? Impossible. Cartman didn’t even have a soulmate… right?

“Butters… what the fresh fuck are you talking about?” Stan muttered. 

“Fellas, I can explai—“

Cartman strutted through his bedroom door. His expression was flat at first, but after seeing everyone stare at him with their mouths agape, he found himself wincing. 

“What?” He choked a bit on his words, his nerves getting the best of him. 

Kyle stood up, charging up to Cartman’s face. His face was redder than his hair, his eyes full of rage, and his hands in fists. “Is this some kind of sick joke, fatass?” Kyle glared at him with his teeth bearing. He was immensely pissed off.

Cartman swallowed. His face heated up and sweat trickled down his face. He loved when Kyle got angry, if only because Kyle gave him attention. 

“I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about,” Cartman said with a flat tone. His face held a shocked expression, with his eyebrows knitted and his eyes wide, but his tone held no resemblance. 

“You obviously do! Why is Butters telling me we’re fucking soulmates?!” Kyle practically screamed at the top of his lungs, his face growing redder by the second.

Cartman opened his mouth as if he was going to speak, but he lost his words immediately. Closing his mouth once more, he stared at Kyle blankly. He couldn’t process what he was hearing.

“Ugh, you can’t even come up with a good lie, can you?! Well, guess what fatass: your plan to humiliate me failed! Butters spilled the beans!” He huffed, forcing his way past Cartman. He stomped down the hall while Cartman stood by with a dumb look. 

Despite being unable to process the situation, he found himself quickly running after Kyle, screaming his name as he did so. 

“Kahl! Kahl, wait, dammit! It’s not a trick I—“

Kyle turned around, his eyes blazing with fury. “What?!”

Cartman stopped in his tracks, his heart pounding. “I… Butters wasn’t lying, Kahl.” He muttered his words under his breath, almost unable to let himself say them out loud.

Kyle stared back with his eyes wide. “What?”

Cartman sighed, turning around and lifting up the hair on the back of his neck to show his nasty burn scar. Kyle stayed silent, waiting for Cartman to continue. 

“I burned it off. I… I just didn’t want to admit that we are soulmates.” 

Kyle stayed silent for what seemed like forever. He couldn’t believe this. There was _no way_ this was happening. 

The silence between them grew deafening after a while, so Cartman spoke up before Kyle could walk away and disregard everything.

“I have proof!” He exclaimed, trying to save the small chance he had.

“Oh, really? Show me then, fatass.”

“Fine! I will!”

Cartman ran down the stairs to get a picture book full of his baby pictures. Kyle swiftly followed, grunting in annoyance as he did so. 

Upon entering the living room, Cartman pulled out a picture book and dug through it in a desperate and careless manner. The picture book contained countless photos of him as a baby, many of which showed his tattoo. He turned the book so it faced Kyle, and looked at him with tired yet pleading eyes.

Kyle stared at the pictures in awe, completely in disbelief. _What the fuck? Why does this fatass have a matching soulmate tattoo with me?_ His mind was racing. His heart was pounding. This couldn’t be possible. He didn’t realize he was holding his breath in silence until he found himself gasping for air.

“You… _You_. Eric fucking Cartman… are my _soulmate_?!?!”

Cartman gulped. He nodded firmly, trying to hide the water leaking from his eyes.

Kyle shook his head. “I’m not falling for this bullshit.” He started to head out the door. He was practically running towards the exit so he could escape whatever crazy reality he was living in. 

“Kahl, stop! It’s not a fucking trick!” Cartman ran in front of the door, stopping Kyle in his tracks. “You can’t… You can’t just leave!” His eyes were watering intensely now, and he started to breathe a little heavily. He could feel himself losing control of his emotions. God dammit. Kyle was _never_ supposed to find out, especially this way. 

Kyle, seeing Cartman’s cheeks puff and his eyes leak, suddenly felt himself swaying towards the brunette and offering some comfort. He grabbed Cartman by the shoulder and smiled warmly at him. He could tell these were no crocodile tears. 

“Cartman, listen. I—“ 

Kyle was cut off by the force of Cartman’s lips against his own. The kiss ended as soon as it began. Kyle didn’t even have time to react to it. 

They both stared at each other in awe. Kyle couldn’t believe what the fuck was happening. He felt his soulmate tattoo grow warm on the back of his neck. It was said when you first kiss your soulmate, the marks indented on your skin grew warm. That means Cartman wasn’t lying. 

“What did I fucking tell you, asshole?” Cartman smiled up at him, his face growing hot along with his mark. 

Kyle leaned in for another kiss, leaving Cartman shocked, but not disappointed. Instantly, Kyle could feel the spark between them. It was obviously meant to be. His brain was going haywire with thoughts of future and what this meant for them. 

Kenny, Butters, and Stan finally came down to join them. They wanted to check and see if it was true. They were greeted with the image of their two friends kissing. All of them gasped in response simultaneously. They couldn’t believe it was actually true. 

Kyle and Cartman separated once they realized they were no longer alone. Both beating red, they looked at their friends in embarrassment and smiled shyly. 

“No way, dude,” Stan muttered. He could feel his stomach getting queasy from the sight alone. 

“Oh, fucking finally!” Butters exclaimed in joy, jumping up and down. 

Kenny simply smirked. He figured something like this would happen. 

Kenny, Butters, and Stan began walking towards the door. 

Kyle was about to object and ask them to stay, but he was cut off by Stan. “I think we should give you guys privacy. You guys obviously have some stuff to work on.” And with that, the three friends were out the door. 

Kyle looked back at Cartman and smiled a genuine smile. Stan sure wasn’t wrong. They did have a lot to figure out, but for now, he just wanted to enjoy this. 

“We have a lot to work on. We need to figure out how we’re going to go forward from here.” Cartman hummed in agreement. 

“But, for now…” He grabbed Cartman by the shirt and pulled him into a deep kiss. 

They had time for the messy argument later. Kyle didn’t care to deal with it right away. He just figured out who his soulmate is, after all. He wanted to live in the moment for once. Besides, it would work out. The universe had unmistakably paired them together, and there was no way it could fail. 

It was fate, and for once they both wanted to stick with it. 


End file.
